Great News for Christmas

My 24 students each performed a random act of kindness over the last 24 hours. That is their Christmas gift to the world! Enjoy this holiday season and start off 2010 with spreading joy and kindness to others!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Merry Christmas to all!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Meet our friend Elfis

Do you know about Elf on a Shelf? Of course you do! Our classroom elf is named Elfis, the children picked this due to their love of the King of Rock. They also have a love for sideburns and fried peanut butter sandwiches, and so does Elfis! He watches over our class full of children and reports back to Santa each night on our behavior. He doesn't text, email, or IM with Santa...he actually flies to the North Pole EACH AND EVERY evening. He has left notes and candy on our desks, watched us in the hallway, played in the snow, climbed our Christmas tree, and today he was planted in our poinsettia! The rule is that children can not touch their elf, or he will not fly home each night. Poor Alani bumped into him the other day and was MORTIFIED! She wrote him a sincere apology!



Where will you be tomorrow Elfis?

Happy Bill of Rights Day!

Today we had some guests to help us celebrate Bill of Rights Day. What an important portion of the U.S. Constitution and I know I'm one American that is quite thankful for the part that these rights play to govern our society. Our special guests included Florida Supreme Court Justice Fred Lewis, Judge James Wolf from Florida's First District Court of Appeals, Annette Boyd Pitts who serves as the executive director of the Florida Law Related Education Association, and a team of lawyers. We had a lot of expertise for a LOT of questions posed by my fifth graders. After thoroughly reviewing the Bill of Rights, students were able to participate in a simulation. It got a little heated, but in the end I think they came out with a new understanding and respect for our Constitution including the Bill of Rights.

Judge Wolf explains some basic rights to a group of students.



Judge Lewis helps this group of students prioritize their rights.


So, what's your favorite right?

Happy Hanukkah!

We had such a special Hanukkah treat from the Byrne Family on Friday. Mr. and Mrs. Byrne came in to our classroom to share about their heritage and the magic of Hanukkah. Mrs. Byrne taught us the dreidel song and answered all our questions!
Happy Hanukkah Byrne Family!

A Job Well Done!

Congratulations Reid for representing our class so well in Friday's Tropicana Speech Contest. It's a hard task, but Reid has taken on the challenge for two years! He is a great speech writer, and I wonder if the White House is in his future some day! Teachers around school kept commenting about how much they related to his speech topic. Well it was about surviving five principals in six years!

It's the most wonderful time of the year, and we have no great news to report. Be on the lookout and email us at great.news.grizzlies@gmail.com. We know you are doing great things!

On another note, we are quite happy that our Elf on the Shelf, Elfis, is watching our kind deeds. He reports back to Santa each night, so we are minding our P and Qs!